Saturday, January 24, 2015

A Goat Year Of Bold Prosperity With GUINNESS®

Iconic
GUINNESS® stout teams up with the Grand Imperial Group of restaurants to create
a special GUINNESS® Lunar New Year menu to welcome the Goat Year with bold
prosperity.

At a lavish sneak preview hosted by Bruce Dallas,
Marketing Director of Guinness Anchor Berhad, we were treated to a sumptuous
eight-course banquet paired with GUINNESS® stout served in different ways to
complement and bring out the full flavours of each dish.

Dinner was off to a rousing start with the customary serving of Yee Sang
– a rainbow-hued platter of fresh shredded fruit and vegetable that included
crispy fried white bait, lots of almond flakes, cashew nuts, shredded
mango, jambu air and chicken floss generously doused in a tantalisingly tangy
sauce.

The general consensus was favourable especially among us ladies who
raved over the salad’s subtly tart accent and crunchy, nutty dimension. Suffice
to say, the yee sang went superbly well with the rich, bold stout too.

Next up was a bowl of Bird's Nest Soup – a velveteen broth brimming
generously speckled with aromatic black truffle flecks, chunks of fresh crab
meat and delicate wispy egg white commas. A delightful luxe treat that even a
non-soup fan like yours truly couldn’t resist.

After warming up our tummies with more GUINNESS®, it was time
to pig out on Crispy Suckling Pig – a glorious showpiece of
crackling crisp skin rectangles savoured with scallion florets and sweet bean
sauce. Yummeh!

By now our GUINNESS® is chilled with some ice cubes, lightening
the complex brew somewhat as we snapped up the smooth chunks of the
sizeable Steamed Pomfret. The flavourful pool of classic Cantonese-style light soy sauce ramped up the fish's inherent sweetness, accentuated by some caramelised onion and pork strips.

Despite some much ado over a crustacean, ample attention was devoted to
the claypot of Freshwater Prawns. Slick, sweetish-savoury tomato-soy sauce
hugged the delectable largish big-headed prawns, never mind if they turned out
a tad overdone.

Our glasses were never empty prior to the appearance of Braised Sliced
Abalone with Dried Oyster & Beancurd Sheet (tau kan). The stout’s
robustness certainly went glove in hand with the earthy, hearty dish that
promises good things/prospects ahead for everyone.

Although the festive favourite of Claypot Rice with Waxed Sausages &
Meat lacked the expectant ‘smoky’ overtone, everything was still polished off
with much gusto.

Happily, the dessert duet of Steamed Nian Gao and Sweet Potato Pastries more
than made up for that minor hiccup. The intermingling textures and mildly sweet
taste got thumbs up all round, washed down with a bowl of Chilled Mango Puree
with Sago & Pomelo.

Priced
at RM1888 nett, the special GUINNESS® New Year banquet menu is available from January
13 until March 5 inclusive of two quarts of GUINNESS® stout and two sets of GUINNESS®
ang pows. Full details of the exclusive menu
can be found at: www.facebook.com/guinnessmalaysia

Between
5 January 2015 and 28 February 2015, consumers throughout Malaysia
may win one of the 100 pure gold bars with any purchase of a big bottle of Guinness,
Tiger, Heineken or Anchor. All they have to do is look out for the winning
bottle cap liners and answer a few questions correctly to stand a chance to win
one of 100 bars of pure gold worth up to RM1 million. Now that herald Bold
Prosperity indeed for the lucky winners.